TERRY MOSHER
It’s possible that in my nearly half-century of watching local high school sports, I may have seen a tighter baseball race then that which currently exists in the Olympic League. My memory is not the same as it was when I was 29 and starting out as a sportswriter for the old Bremerton Sun, now the Kitsap Sun.
North Kitsap has clinched the OL regular-season title, it’s sixth in seven years, but after that it’s a real tight mad scramble for the next three spots to the West Central 2A District Tournament that begins May 13 at two locations – Kitsap Fairgrounds and Franklin Pierce High School – and ends May 17 with the top five teams making it to state regional contests and a final chance to make the state tournament May 29-30 at Yakima County Stadium.
By virtue of winning the league, NK has already clinched the top seed to the district tournament and has a first round bye. The Vikings will open on May 14 against the No. 4 and No. 6 seeded teams from the combined South Puget Sound/Seamount League sub-district tournament.
Monday will likely decide the other three OL berths to district. Let’s see if I can figure out how it will all shake out for those final three spots. Klahowya, Sequim and Olympic are all tied for second place with one game to go with records of 9-6. North Mason and Bremerton are tied for fifth place with 8-6 records.
Monday, league champion North Kitsap will play at Klahowya, Olympic will be at North Mason, Bremerton plays at Sequim and Port Angles is at Port Townsend. Then there are two makeup games left to play – Port Angeles at North Mason on Tuesday and Port Townsend at Bremerton on Wednesday.
It is dangerous to predict baseball games because the sports is unpredictable – a team can get beat by the five-inning 10-run rule and then the next day do the same thing to the same opponent. But, what the heck, I’m going to predict anyway.
I like Bremerton to beat Sequim. The Knights have a real aggressive, confident bunch of players who hit the ball well and are peaking at the right time. They have won eight of their last 11 games, including a key 3-1 win at Klahowya Friday that snapped the Eagles seven-game winning streak.
I also like the Knights to down Port Townsend in the make up game. That puts the Knights at 10-6 in the final standings. The Knights are talented. I really like their shortstop Anthony Amicangelo. He’s smooth, has a gun for an arm, and appears to have an extra dose of confidence. I’ve seen every OL team except NK and I would say the Knights are the best right now.
Losing to Bremerton will put the Sequim Wolves’ final OL record at 9-7.
I’m going with Olympic to down North Mason, which will most likely be pitching the league’s best in Daniel Burggraff. But I just think Oly hits the ball too well to be denied. So the Trojans will finish league with a 10-6 record and North Mason, which will beat Port Angeles on Tuesday will finish with a 9-7 mark.
I see Klahowya falling to North Kitsap, even though the Eagles defeated the Vikings 5-4 up in Poulsbo just recently. The Eagles are solid, but I think the disappointing defeat to Bremerton will leave an emotional hangover that they can’t overcome.
So that will leave the Eagles are 9-7 in the regular season. That means Bremerton and Olympic will take two of the three remaining district spots and Klahowya, North Mason and Sequim will be tied for the fourth and final berth.
Of course it’s possible that Sequim beats Bremerton, Klahowya takes down NK again and Burggraff and North Mason silence the hot Olympic bats and then beats Port Angeles and Sequim, Klahowya and North Mason all finish 10-6 and take the final three playoff spots.
In other words, making baseball prediction is about as easy as predicting who is going to win the Kentucky Derby that runs in about three hours. So I might as well make a complete fool of myself and predict Gary Stevens will win the Derby aboard Candy Boy.
Just don’t bet your mortgage payment on any of this.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.